"Today the woman in charge of IRS department of tax-exempt organizations refused to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee. Lois Lerner is still on the job, but she should be suspended immediately. Yes, she has the right to remain silent, but she does not have a right to hold a job that has paid her about $750,000 over the past four years. Hey, lady, that's taxpayer money and you owe us the truth, not the Fifth. Lerner knows she's in big trouble and many believe she will be charged with a crime. Another guy in trouble is former IRS director Douglas Shulman, who was Lerner's boss. He visited the White House 118 times, a red flag for sure. Even devoted liberal Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings said there was 'gross incompetence and mismanagement' at the IRS. Is the President outraged that Lois Lerner took the Fifth? White House spokesman Jay Carney can speak to that, but he will not. According to a new poll, 49% of Americans consider President Obama 'honest and trustworthy,' while 48% do not. If the IRS scandal continues and the White House continues to dodge, that 'untrustworthy' number will surely rise."

The Factor asked lifelong Democrat Bob Beckel about Lois Lerner's decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment. "She started by saying she didn't break any laws," Beckel pointed out, "but then she took the Fifth, and that's a problem. Are we to believe that nobody suggested to her that conservative groups should be looked into? Do I believe Obama did that? Absolutely not, but there are people around him who may have done it. She should be suspended." Beckel insisted that President Obama deserves the benefit of the doubt. "I know Barack Obama, I've met him seven times, and this is a smart guy. Do you think he would tell the head of the IRS to look at these Tea Party groups? Of course not." The Factor suggested that the President's advisers could well be culpable: "I don't think Barack Obama would be foolish enough to order the IRS to target Tea Party conservatives, but his surrogates would be that stupid. And if he knew about it and didn't take any action, that is big trouble for him."

Searching for government leaks, the FBI has investigated phone records of AP reporters and has also targeted Fox News correspondent James Rosen. Republican Kate Obenshain and Democrat Kirsten Powers analyzed the revelations. "When asked about the AP scandal," Powers stated, "the President said he makes no apologies for what they did, and he hasn't said a word about James Rosen, so he's not too up in arms. He picks up the phone and calls people if they've been insulted by a radio host, but he hasn't spoken out on the government's thuggish tactics against journalists. Attorney General Holder and the President don't look very good right now." Obenshain portrayed the snooping scandal as extremely serious. "It's very clear that this was an executive level decision and Holder had to be involved. This shouldn't come as a surprise, but it is an atrocity and a scandal of serious proportions. The White House and the Department of Justice have made the determination that they're going after journalists." The Factor predicted that Attorney General Eric Holder "will have to resign over this."

Two Muslim extremists attacked and killed a British soldier in broad daylight on Wednesday in London. FNC correspondents James Rosen and Carl Cameron reported the latest on the attack. "I just got off the phone with the British Embassy in Washington," Rosen reported, "and they are not calling this a 'terrorism' just yet. But these two men attacked someone just a few blocks from a military barracks and then were shot themselves by armed British police. They are now in the hospital and this could be a terrorist attack." Cameron turned to a death of a man tangentially related to the Boston Marathon terrorist bombing. "27-year-old Ibragim Todashev, a Chechen, was being questioned late Tuesday night by Massachusetts state troopers and the FBI about his friendship with the dead Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Todashev and Tsarnaev were both suspected in a triple murder in Boston and late last night investigators thought Todashev was ready to sign a statement, but apparently he flew off the handle and pulled a knife. An FBI agent shot and killed him." The Factor reported that Rosen was heeding legal advice and could not answer questions related to the FBI's investigation into his phone records and emails.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was grilled by a Senate committee this week and accused of avoiding taxes on profits earned overseas. Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs picked up the story from there. "This is a complicated issue," Dobbs began, "and complicating it further is that Tim Cook has promised that he's going to distribute $100 billion to his shareholders. Because interest rates are so low, he will borrow that money rather than bringing it back from overseas. But it's crazy what Senator Carl Levin is doing by attacking a successful business - Apple has 600,000 employees here and they pay their taxes, more than $6 billion last year."

The Factor invited Dennis Miller to weigh in on the revelation that the FBI has been looking into James Rosen's phone and email records. "I just wish the DOJ had been as tough on those Black Panthers holding pipe wrenches outside the Philadelphia polling place as they are on James Rosen. This administration is looking more Nixonian and I would say the only difference is when Obama says 'I am not a crook' they're going to have to put it on teleprompter for him." Miller also opined on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's suggestion that mediocre high school students should forgo college and become plumbers. "This is the nanny state telling the kids that if you are going to live in your parents' basement the rest of your life, why not learn how to work on the pipes while you're down there. One thing about a plumber is that they can recognize a little drip that keeps you up all night, and that's Mayor Bloomberg!"

FFNC's Jesse Watters headed a few miles south to lower Manhattan, most definitely Obama country, and asked some folks about the current controversies. A few of their comments: "I don't think it's really like a huge scandal" ... "He seems like a good guy" ... "There's no way to be an honest President of a dishonest country" ... "Obama brought us back from the darkness."